Unlikely
by Mette A
Summary: The story picks up after Joy To The World. As to not give anything away, the genre will be general, but you have to read to find out if that's all it's going to be. The main characters will be House and Cuddy, but the rest will be there too.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Unlikely.

**Rating:** I'm not quite sure, because I'm not familiar with the rating system, but most of it is definitely clean. I'll give notice in the chapters if something gets un-clean. But because I have to rate it in the posting process, I've rated it M, just to be on the safe side.

**Spoilers:** The story picks up after season 5's episode _Joy To The World_. As to not give anything away, the genre will be _general, _but you have to read to find out if that's all it's going to be. The main characters will be House and Cuddy, but the rest will be there as well.

**Disclaimers:** I don't own House or any of its characters. It belongs to Fox and David Shore, etc.

**Note:**  
- I don't have a beta reader and I have no intention of getting one, so I apologize if there are grammar errors, spelling errors etc - English is not my native language.  
- If the characters get out of character think of it as character development and keep in mind at all times that this is fiction.  
- I won't be going into any medical stuff in detail, so if I write something that seems a bit far out, just go with it and remember that this story is fiction.

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It was a few days into the new year and House was sitting at his piano playing a tune. He was returning to work the following day after having spent the last week and a half at home. There had been no cases needing his attention, so Cuddy had given him and his team time off and told them to enjoy the Holidays.

But House hadn't enjoyed the Holidays.

He had spent Christmas Eve with Wilson eating Chinese food and watching wrestling re-runs. However, Wilson was off the next day to spend some time with family since he also had time off during the Holidays, and that had left House all alone for the week with no one to hang out with.

He had called his mom leaving a message on her answering machine wishing her a Merry Christmas. He had thought about going with her to his aunt Sarah's house for Christmas now that his dad was gone, but he knew he wouldn't have been in the mood to stay for long or be the best company to anyone there, so he had decided to stay home.

On Christmas Eve Cuddy had called him to wish him a Merry Christmas. Due to the situation regarding the Soellner baby it hadn't taken the usual amount of time for her to be approved as the baby's caretaker, so she had been able to take the baby home the day before, as she had been well enough to leave the hospital. House was happy that she had called when Wilson was there because that saved him from uncomfortable small talk and from getting into the direction of a personal conversation with her that he wasn't ready for. However, House had wanted the phone call to last longer than it did, but the baby had started crying, so Cuddy had to hang up.

New Year's Eve was spent with Wilson but also with Wilson's cousin, who had been in town on business the day before and had decided to stay much to House's disappointment. He had hoped to spent some time with Wilson alone for making up for not spending time together since Christmas Eve, but also knew that if he wanted to spend New Year's Eve with Wilson he had to spend it with Wilson's cousin too. House figured it would probably be okay, but the cousin had turned out to be too boring and annoying for House's taste, so New Year's had sucked.

Christmas had sucked. The entire week between Christmas and New Year had sucked. The first few days of the new year had sucked. Going back to work tomorrow would suck unless he had an interesting case. Clinic duty would definitely suck. Wilson had been happy and smiling and had had a good vacation and that sucked. Cuddy would be there with the baby and that would suck. Everything sucked.

House had no intention of making any New Year's resolutions as he thought they were pointless. People always made resolutions to change their lives for the better but never stuck with it, so no point in making fake promises. Besides, he hated change. And being who he was had worked for him the year before, so why change that?

Deciding to stick to what he knew best he would be like he'd been the previous year, and with that thought he drank the last of his bourbon and continued to play the piano.

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The next day House walked into his office late as usual.

Foreman, Kutner, Taub, and Thirteen all looked up as he entered. Kutner smiled at him.

"Happy New Year, House." House made no attempt to acknowledge what Kutner had said and proceeded to get himself a cup of coffee.

Kutner felt a little embarrassed while the other three either shook their heads or rolled their eyes.

Once House had poured himself a cup of coffee he took a sip before turning to face his team.

"Do we have a case?" Foreman nodded.

"Yes."

"Then why aren't you working on it?"

"We don't have it yet."

"Cuddy called minutes before you entered and said she'd be bringing it up shortly." House shook his head in mocking shock disbelief.

"Shortly? Doesn't the woman know that we deal with cases that are a matter of life and death?" He changed to being annoyed. "What could possibly be so important that she didn't bring the case right away?" Both Foreman and Thirteen looked at him annoyed while Taub answered him.

"She brought her baby with her, and she needed her diaper changed. That's why she can't be here straight away."

"If she can't focus on her job, she should've left the kid at home. Or left it with someone, who's more competent at taking care of it." Thirteen gaped at him and everyone else was taken aback a little by his comment. Thirteen shook her head at him.

"You can't be serious?"

"This is a hospital full of sick people and we, as _doctors_, are supposed to cure them if we can. In that process we need the Dean to administrate and do her job so we can do ours. She's not doing her job so we can't do ours, which in other words means she's killing the patient."

"She's not killing the patient."

"How would you know? Have you read the file?"

"No, and neither have you."

"True, but we get the cases that no one else can solve, which, if I'm not mistaken, means that the patient is pretty close to dying." Thirteen rolled her eyes and gave up on trying to reason, with House. However, he wasn't done. "I thought you of all people would understand the need to get the case as soon as possible."

"And why's that?"

"Because in a few short years you'll be dead, so I'd assume you would want to enjoy the few precious moments left of your life to do other things than wait around to get a case file." She gave him a glare and so did Foreman.

"That's enough, House." House turned to Foreman and replied sarcastically.

"Isn't that sweet of you to stick up for your girlfriend." All four of them gaped. Thirteen and Foreman gaped because they didn't know that House knew about them. Kutner and Taub gaped because they hadn't noticed anything going on between Foreman and Thirteen.

Kutner looked between Foreman and Thirteen.

"Is House right? Are you two together?" Foreman looked at him.

"If it's alright with all of you, we'd rather not discuss our personal life." Foreman and Kutner nodded but House wasn't done.

"Why not? Are you ashamed that she's been getting it on with chicks? You know most men would find that a complete turn on." He wiggled his eye brows at Thirteen. She gave him an angry glare.

"You're an ass."

"Hey it's not my fault that we're having this conversation." Foreman looked at him.

"It's completely your fault."

"No, it's Cuddy's. If she had done her job and brought us the case straight away, we would've never had this conversation. So blame her and her carelessness." Thirteen shook her head.

"You're a real piece of work." House just smirked.

"One of us could've gone down to her office and picked up the file. That way she wouldn't need to get up here and we could be working right now." House faced Taub.

"Are your wife still making you sleep on the couch?" Taub spoke calmly.

"No, why would you assume that?"

"Because if you're not pleasing your wife, you would have a need to please someone else. Now I would think that you're not dumb enough to cheat on your wife again now that you've confessed, so you would need to find a more appropriate way to pleasing a woman. It would please you because it would please Cuddy, if you'd gone to her office to get the file and save her the trip up here." Taub remained calm.

"I didn't say, I should've been the one to get the file, but is there anything wrong with being nice and helping someone out?"

"Yes. No one does anything out of the goodness of their heart. People are only kind toward others if they want something in return or if they want to feel good about themselves."

"I disagree." Taub turned away from House and looked around at the others.

"So she might've let you back in your bed, but your willingness to help Cuddy out lets me to believe that you're not getting any." House walked closer to Taub when he didn't get a reaction from him. "Well?" Taub turned towards him and again spoke calmly.

"My personal life is none of your business. You might think it is, but it's not. And you might think you're right all the time, but you're not." House put his hand over his heart and faked cried.

"That hurts right here." Everyone just shook their heads at him. House looked at his watch and turned back to being annoyed. "Where the hell is Cuddy?"

Ten minutes later House walked over to get himself another cup of coffee when Cuddy entered with the file and the baby.

"Happy New Year, everyone." She smiled around at everyone and they all returned her smile and greeting except for House.

She looked over at him and smiled, but when he wouldn't give her the time of day she paid attention to Thirteen and Kutner, who had both gotten out of their chairs to get a closer look at the baby.

"She's beautiful." Cuddy nodded. "How's she doing?"

"She's doing just fine. She's getting stronger every day, and she shows no sign of permanent damage."

"That's really great."

"Have you given her a name yet." Cuddy looked up at Thirteen and smiled.

"I've named her Hope."

"Oh good god!" Everyone looked at House at his outburst. Foreman and Taub exchanged glances knowing that this couldn't be good. House walked closer. "What's with the hippie names? You named the first one Joy, and now you're naming this kid Hope?" Cuddy glared at him.

"They're not hippie names." He ignored her comment.

"When you screw up with this one and have to hand her back to people, who can actually take care of her, or when she dies, what are you going to call the next kid you try to adopt? Rain? Sunshine? Ocean?"

She was taken aback by his words and the tone of his voice. That night at the hospital when she told him she'd already contacted her lawyer she noticed how soft his voice was when he'd wished her a Merry Christmas. When she had turned around a few seconds later to wish him a Merry Christmas too, he was gone and that made her sad. On Christmas Eve when she'd called, they didn't get a chance to talk as long as she'd liked, because Wilson was at House's and the baby had needed her attention. But House had also seemed a bit uncomfortable to her, so maybe it was a good thing they hadn't talked longer. She had thought about calling him during the week, but had decided against it and instead concentrated on the baby.

But not only was she taken aback, she was also hurt by what he said. When he had showed up at her house the night she lost Joy, he'd told her she'd be a great mom. Was he actually telling her now that she'd screw up? Was he actually being mean the same way that he'd been when she was waiting for Joy to be born? The look on his face told her, he was. She gave him an angry glare.

"I'm not going to screw up and she's not going to die."

"You've already screwed up by not doing your job. You should've brought that file up the minute you got it."

"Hope needed to be changed, and then she started to cry and I…." House caught her off.

"Oh spare me your excuses. In case you haven't noticed this is a hospital where we treat patients." He pointed to the baby. "She's not a patient anymore, so she shouldn't be your first priority. You have obligations to your staff, and you failed by not bringing us that file right away. You could've killed the patient by running around playing mommy." He stared at her angrily. "Leave the kid at home with a sitter or get rid of it." Everyone gaped and Hope started to stir a little when House raised his voice slightly. Cuddy looked at the baby and started to rock her gently.

"Shh, shh. It's okay. You're okay. Mommy's here." She kept rocking her and Hope calmed down after a few seconds. House shook his head.

"You're setting yourself up for failure by calling yourself 'mommy'. Stop pretending something you're not." She glared at him and handed him the file.

"Here." He took it and glared back.

"About damn time." They continued to glare at each other, but then Cuddy turned her attention to Hope. She smiled at her.

"You want to go say hi to uncle James?" The baby cooed, which made Cuddy smile even more. Everyone else smiled too except for House. "Let's go." She looked around at everyone. "Good luck. Let me know how things turn out."

"Oh so you do actually plan on doing your job today." She gave House another glare at his comment and left the room without another word.

Foreman shook his head.

"House, was that really necessary?" House looked back at Foreman.

"Well, she obviously needed to be reminded to do her job." He threw the file on the table. "Don't let me remind you to do yours." They all stood around for a few seconds before all sitting down to read the file.

TBC.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you _quietandmellow_ for reviewing and reading and thank you to everyone else, who read.

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**Chapter 2**

The next few days passed with House and his team trying to figure out what was wrong with their patient, and with Cuddy trying to manage her job and taking care of Hope at the same time. It wasn't easy for any of them.

The patient had been put through test after test, which meant that House had been to Cuddy's office a few times to get her permission to perform some of the more dangerous ones. Of course each time he'd been there he'd stayed longer than necessary and prevented her from getting back to work while insulting her parental skills. That only made her more exhausted.

But she wasn't going to let that get to her since she had more important things to think about now. She looked down at Hope, who had just fallen asleep in her arms and smiled at her. Kissing her on the forehead she put her in the crib that had been set up in her office. She stood and looked down at her for a few minutes enjoying the sight before going back to her desk.

As she walked back to her desk she had her back turned towards the door and didn't see House approaching, and therefore was unable to prevent him from barging in and opening the door so quickly that it slammed against the wall. That woke Hope and she started to cry. Cuddy spun around glared and hissed at him.

"Can't you open the door like a normal person? You know Hope is in here." She walked over to the crib to pick up Hope.

"She shouldn't be in here. You're supposed to be working. Not walking around with a crying kid." She glared at him again as she walked back and forth trying to calm Hope down.

"I had just put her down and was about to get back to work when you came barging in here. If you could knock, walk in quietly, and speak calmly, Hope would sleep through all of that and I could do my job at the same time."

"But you can't do your job. That kid is interrupting your work constantly and.." She cut him off.

"You interrupt my work constantly." He ignored her.

"You're behind on your work."

"You're one to talk."

"I'm not the Dean. You are. A fact that you seem to have forgotten since you got back from the Holidays."

"No one else has a problem with me being a little bit behind. And not that I need to justify myself to you, but I take home paperwork and usually have it done by the time I get to work the next day." Hope was about to fall asleep so House raised his voice.

"And that's where you're going to screw up with her, if you even get to adopt her." She gave him a deathly glare and started rocking Hope again. "You're supposed to do your job here. Not at home. If you can't leave your work at the office, you're not fit to raise a child, and if you can't do your job at the office, you should leave the kid with someone, who's capable of looking after her. You can't have it both ways, and it's about time you realized that."

"I work at home when she's sleeping, so it doesn't interfere with me taking care of her."

"But taking care of her interferes with your job here."

"I already told you I'm only a little bit behind, and it's no concern of yours."

"I say again, you're the Dean. Your job concerns everyone, and if you can't do your job properly, what good are you?" She was hurt by his words like she'd been the last couple of days, but instead of letting him see that he was getting to her, she continued with her deathly glare.

"Did you want something or did you just come here to ridicule me?" They continued to glare at each other for a few seconds before he answered her.

"We figured out what's wrong with my patient." He waved a piece of paper in front of her. "I need you to sign off on the procedure it'll take to safe his life." She took the paper from him and read through it.

When she was done reading the paper she put it down on her desk and with grace she shifted Hope to her right arm, so that she could sign the paper. She hoped that would show House that she was capable of being a mom and the Dean at the same time. She held out the paper for him to take back.

"Here."

"Nice to know that you still have time to do your job."

"I do. Now go and do _your_ job." He snatched it out of her hands and limped out of her office slamming the door, which made Hope start to cry again. Cuddy shook her head and sighed. "Damn it, House."

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Another week went by which meant another patient for House and his team, more of House annoying Cuddy about her job and her parenting skills, and Cuddy being more exhausted.

Having just parked her car Cuddy leaned back in her seat and sighed rubbing her hands over her face. She was late. She was never late. But the last three days she'd been bringing home more paperwork and had been staying up much later than she usually did. And with having to get up a few times every night to attend to Hope, it seemed like she hadn't slept at all.

She heard Hope coo and looked at her. The small smile on Hope's face made Cuddy's face light up. It was all worth it. The lack of sleep, bringing home paperwork, House's insanity. It was all worth it to see that smile. To have her. She learned over and gave Hope a kiss on the forehead.

"Let's go to work."

She got out of her car and went to the trunk to get the stroller. She then got Hope out and placed her in it, got her things, and walked towards a new day at work.

When she got inside she saw House standing at the front desk. Carrying his backpack, she figured he'd only just arrived himself, which didn't surprise her.

He looked at her when she stopped at the front desk. Then he looked at his watch.

"You're late." Without looking up from the file she was reading, she answered him.

"You're wearing a blue shirt." When he didn't say anything for a few moments, she looked at him. "So I guess we're not having a state-the-obvious contest after all." He ignored her comment.

"You're _never_ late." She shook her head and looked back at the file.

"I was doing the budget report until late, and I was up several times with Hope."

"The kid's stopping you from doing your job." Now she ignored his comment.

"You need to do your budget report."

"No, I don't." She looked up from the file.

"Yes, you do, House." He shook his head slightly.

"That's what I have a team for."

"No, that's not what you have a team for. You're the head of your department, which is why you're the one, who has to do the budget report. It's part of your job."

"The budget report might be part of my job, but then that also makes it part of my team's job. I'll get Foreman to do it. He's been here longer than any of the others, so that should make you happy." She narrowed her eyes at him.

"You will do what I tell you to do." He limped away and then turned around to look at her when he reached the elevator.

"You can't always get what you want." He was inside the elevator and the doors closed before she could say anything.

She sighed, shook her head, and went to her office.

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House limped into his office and put his backpack down, and then walked into the conference room where everyone was waiting for him.

"Foreman you need to have the budget report done by next Friday." Foreman smirked.

"Nice try, House. But as the head of this department, it's your job to do the budget report."

"You work for me, so I'm making it your job."

"You can't do that."

"I believe, I just did." Foreman gaped at him a little and then shook his head.

"Even if I wanted to, I don't have the time. I have work here, I have clinic duty, I have the clinic trials."

"Seems like you're in for a busy week." He kept talking before Foreman could get a word in. "Do we have a case?" Taub shook his head.

"No." House looked back at Foreman.

"It seems now is as good a time as any to get started on that budget report. Best to get a head start. Or so I'd think." He looked around at the others not bothering to look at Foreman's glaring face. "The rest of you can work in the clinic and see if anything interesting pops up. I also believe there are still reports that need to be taken care of."

They all looked around at each other, but knowing that House was serious they all got up from the table.

"I'll be in the clinic." Thirteen left.

"I'll be there too." Taub left right behind her. Foreman gave House another glare as House pulled out his pill bottle.

"I guess, I'll be doing the budget report." He left too as House swallowed his last two pills.

"I'll get started on those reports then."

"Before you do that, I need you to get me a refill." House threw the empty pill bottle at Kutner. Kutner knew it was best not to argue with House on that matter, so he nodded.

"I'll be back in a couple of minutes."

When Kutner left, House went back into his office and sat down in his armchair and put his right leg up. It had been hurting a bit more than usual during the last couple of days, which meant that he'd been taking more Vicodin. He leaned back in his chair and started to massage his leg hoping that that would help ease the pain a little.

**TBC**


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you for reading and reviewing _memamo._I'm glad to hear you think it's an interesting plot line, and I'm thrilled to hear you say that House is in character - thank you.

Thank you to everyone else, who read.

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**Chapter 3**

Five days later House and his team were working late on a case. They'd performed test after test, but they were nowhere near to finding out the right treatment for their patient.

House had just crossed a few of the deceases off the whiteboard that they had tried to treat the patient for but that hadn't worked. He tapped his cane against the floor a few times before looking up at the team.

"Go run the tests again, and test him for anything you can think of that resembles his symptoms." Taub run a hand over his head, tired from working on this case.

"It's pointless, House. We've tried everything." House snapped at him a little.

"Well you must have overlooked something." Thirteen looked at House.

"We haven't missed anything." House glared at her.

"Well, obviously you have because the patient is still dying."

Foreman sighed and stood up knowing there was no point in arguing with House at this hour. He nodded at him.

"We'll go check everything again."

"Good." Everyone else stood up too. House took another look at the whiteboard and knew of a procedure they could do and then grabbed his coat from the chair. They all looked at him curiously but Kutner was the one to ask.

"Where are you going?"

"Out to stretch my legs." They all looked around at each other and then back at House. He rolled his eyes. "The patient won't get better by you just standing there." They all rolled their eyes and then left the conference room. House picked up the patient's file and then left the conference room too.

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Cuddy was woken by a loud banging on her front door. Soon the sound of someone banging on her front door was mixed with the sound of Hope crying. She opened her eyes and when she noticed how dark it was outside, she groaned. She quickly glanced at the alarm clock and groaned again. It was just passed 3.30 a.m. Only one person would come to her place at this hour. House.

She got out of her bed, and quickly put on a robe before proceeding into Hope's room to pick her up. She was still crying at the top of her lungs, and Cuddy tried her best to rock her gently in her arms on her way to open the door.

"Ssshh, ssshh, It's okay. It's just House. You remember I told you about him right?" Hope continued to cry and Cuddy nodded. "I'll take that as a yes." She opened the door and gave House an angry and annoyed glare. "How da…" He caught her off before she could go any further.

"Need your approval to see if this guy's pain is coming from his brain or his body, otherwise my patient will die." He shoved the file in her hand and limped passed her and proceeded to her living room. She shook her head, closed the door, and followed him.

She hissed at him and tried her best not to raise her voice.

"Do you have any idea of what time it is?"

"Did you not hear what I said?" He spoke louder and clearer. "Dying patient. Pain in either brain or body. Need your approval." She glared at him.

"Keep your voice down."

"Obviously I had to speak louder, because you didn't hear what I said. In case you didn't hear me the second time either let me say it again. I need your approval to see if the guy's pain is coming from his brain or his body, otherwise my patient is dead." He put his hands over his ears and spoke even louder. "And could you do something about the screaming coming from that thing on your arm? It's really annoying." She gaped at him and was hurt and angry hearing his words.

"This is her home and she can be as loud as she wants. It's your fault that she's crying, because you just had to bang so loudly on the door." She walked over to the table and threw the file down. House was about to protest but didn't get a chance. "I'm going to put her down and try to get her to sleep. You _will_ stay _here_ and be _quiet_. Do I make myself clear?" He narrowed his eyes at her.

"My patient is dying. Do _I_ make myself clear?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"If you want my approval, you'll do as I say." When he didn't answer her and looked away from her after a few seconds, she left the living room.

It took a couple of minutes to get Hope to fall asleep. Once she was sleeping Cuddy stayed in her room for a couple minutes more watching the beautiful sight before her. She gave Hope another kiss before walking out of her room.

When she left the room she stayed outside of it for a few seconds pulling herself together. She sighed and put her head in her hands. Last year for a brief moment things had been so different. House had kissed her. She had kissed back. And for the following months after that there had been something in the air between them. But it all seemed lost now with the way he was acting.

She sighed again and walked back into the living room where she found House glaring at her.

"Took you long enough." She glared back at him.

"Be quiet." She picked up the file and started to read it.

House looked around the living room as she was reading the file. Files, papers, books, newspapers, magazines, a notebook, three pens, two teddy bears, a baby blanket, and an empty cup was scattered all over the table, chairs, and couch.

"This place is a disaster. It looks like a bomb went off in here."

"I told you to be quiet." He ignored her.

"When was the last time you cleaned?" She looked at him, hissed and there was a warning in her tone.

"House! You wanted me to read this, so let me do it and be quiet." They glared at each other for a few seconds and she returned to reading the fill.

However, the silence only lasted for a little while.

"You can't keep your house clean, you can't do your job, and you can't take proper care of a tiny kid. You suck at everything."

She had to swallow hard to get rid of the lump in her throat, and had to bite down on her bottom lip to prevent herself from crying.

A few seconds later she was done reading the file. She handed it back to House and he took it.

"You can do the procedure."

"Took you long enough to reach that decision. Of course if you'd just stick to doing your job instead of running around pretending to be something you're not and never will be, you could've reached this decision a long time ago." She stared coldly at him.

"You got what you came for. Now get out." They looked at each other for a few seconds before House limped towards the door. Cuddy followed him.

When he opened the door he looked back at her and spoke sarcastically.

"Aaawww, how sweet you want to make sure I get out the door alright."

"I only want to make sure that you don't slam the door behind you and wake up Hope again." She put her hand on the doorknob to prevent him from any attempts of quickly grabbing the door and slamming it.

He looked at her for another brief moment before walking towards his car. Wanting to make sure that he didn't make any loud noises or come back again, Cuddy watched him leave until she couldn't see his car anymore. She then walked back to bed, and once inside her bedroom she let the tears fall that she had prevented from falling a few minutes ago.

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The next day early in the afternoon Wilson knocked on Cuddy's door to her office. When she waved him in, he entered and spoke quietly from the door.

"Do you have a minute?" She smiled at him.

"Yes." He walked in and immediately walked over to the crib to take a peek at Hope, who was sleeping. He turned around and smiled at Cuddy, who gave him a tired smile in return.

"You don't look too good. Are you coming down with something, or are you just really, really tired?"

"I'm just really, really tired." Wilson took a seat and nodded.

"Well that's understandable. You have a lot going on."

"Yes, and it doesn't make it better that House showed up on my doorstep at 3.30 in the morning and kept banging on the door loudly until I opened." Wilson looked at her incredulously. His voice went up a few octaves.

"Seriously?" She nodded. "Why did he show up at your house in the middle of the night?"

"He needed my approval to do a procedure that would determine whether his patient's pain came from his brain or his body." She sighed. "But lately I think he'll do anything to piss me off."

Wilson sighed too. He had hoped things would work out between his friends, and that they would both be happy, because he felt they needed and deserved to be. But with how things were now, they didn't seem to move forward in the direction of any kind of relationship.

"You know House. He hates change. Hopefully he'll get used to how things are for you now, and he'll calm down, and just go back to being his usual self. Maybe it'll just take him a few weeks."

"I wish it wouldn't take that long. I've had enough of him criticizing me, but there's absolutely nothing I can do to stop him." She shook her head. "If he wants to insult me that's fine, but I wish he'd be calm around Hope, so that she wouldn't wake up every time he's loud near her."

"Do you want me to talk to him?"

"Do you honestly think that'll help?" He smiled a little and shook his head.

"No." She smiled back.

"I didn't think so." He looked at her a little concerned.

"Are things really that bad?"

"It depends on what things you're referring to."

"Um, I don't know. Just in general." He shrugged. "You just said House is a hassle, but what about work and taking care of Hope?"

"Well, come to think of it, you can't really separate them. If House would just be considerate around her, my work and taking care of her would go a lot smoother. I don't get nearly as much paperwork done here as I'd like to, because he'll come barging into my office, and that always happens when Hope's sleeping. It'll then take me a while to get her back to sleep, but I can only do that when House leaves because he'll be talking too loudly and slamming the door when he leaves. I then end up taking a lot of paperwork home, which I usually get done. But because the pile of paperwork gets bigger and bigger, I end up staying up later than usual, which results in me not getting as much sleep as I'd like. And on top of that Hope wakes up a few times a night."

"No wonder you're exhausted."

"Exactly. I just didn't know it would be this exhausting. I knew it would be difficult and hard work taking care of Hope, my job, and House all at the same time, but I didn't expect it to be this exhausting and difficult." She sighed again. "I guess I could leave her in the daycare more than I do. I mean, it's in the building, so I can still make time to go see her, but also get paperwork done here."

"But the problem is that you don't really want to leave her alone for too long. You only leave her alone when you're really forced to, like when you have a meeting or need to attend to patients." Cuddy smiled broadly.

"Yeah." She shook her head slightly. "But maybe I should leave her there for most of the day and only go see her once in a while. Other people drop their kids off at daycare and pick them up again after work."

"Not every parent is the same. And most don't have the luxury that you have. You're the Dean and don't have a boss breathing down your neck every minute. You might have meetings, clinic hours, have to check up on the different departments, and make sure that a certain doctor doesn't burn the hospital down." She chuckled at that comment, and he smiled too. "And while that might be a lot of work you still have plenty of time to work in your office, and you can spend all that time looking after Hope in here." He leaned forward in his chair. "It's only a good thing for Hope and you that you get to spend so much time together. It shows on your face how happy you are to have her in your life, and that you're able to keep her with you in here." She smiled broader at him.

"Thank you, Wilson." He returned the smile.

"You're welcome." He leaned back in his chair. "But have you thought about taking some leave?"

"Leave?"

"It's normal for mothers to go on maternity leave, so why shouldn't you do that too?" She shrugged. "Everyone will understand if you decide to take leave to be able to make a stronger bond with Hope." She arched an eyebrow.

"Everyone?"

"Well, a certain someone might not understand." He shook his head. "But this is not about House. It's about you and Hope, and about spending time together without having to worry about a million different things at the same time. Instead of doing paperwork at home when she's sleeping, you can rest too or read a book or watch a movie. The point is you'll have time to relax and time to concentrate solely on Hope without any interruptions." She nodded.

"Yeah, maybe you're right. But who would I get to fill in for me?" Wilson shook his head.

"I don't know. I'm pretty busy the next couple of months, otherwise I would've filled in for you." She smiled.

"Thanks." He smiled back.

"No problem. You don't have to make any decisions right here and right now, but if you found a replacement and talked to the board and your bosses, you could probably start your leave on Monday."

"That actually doesn't sound too bad. I just wish you'd come up with this idea last week." He gave her a puzzled look.

"Why?"

"Because, the caseworker is coming to my house on Friday to do an inspection. Based on my home and me as a person, he decides if I'm qualified to become a foster mom."

"You're not worried that you're not going to pass, are you?" She shrugged.

"A little." He smiled at her.

"I don't think you have anything to worry about. You have more than enough money to support her and give her the best life possible, and you're a doctor so you know how to take care of her."

"Just because I'm a doctor and have money doesn't mean I can't fail." He nodded once.

"True. But you're a caring person by nature, and the affection you've shown Hope from the start is overwhelming. You're going to do great." She smiled.

"Thank you. I just have to get my house cleaned by then." He laughed a little, then looked at his watch and stood up.

"I should get going. I have an appointment in a few minutes." She looked at him a little confused.

"Wasn't there something you wanted to talk to me about?" He shook his head.

"No, I really only came to see how you were doing, and to see Hope." She gave him a big smile.

"Thank you, Wilson. I really appreciate that. I'm glad I have friends, who actually look out for me rather than harass me."

"My pleasure. I'll talk to you later. Bye."

"Bye, Wilson."

Cuddy leaned back in her chair thinking that Wilson had a good point. It would be nice to take some time off to spend with Hope without having to worry about anything else. It would also give her a break from House and his hurtful remarks, and she could certainly use that. She started to like the idea of taking leave more and more, but she had no clue as to who should be her replacement.

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Two hours later Wilson walked into House's office.

"Hey, do you have a minute?" House looked up from his computer and nodded.

"Sure." Wilson walked closer to House's desk and when he stood in front of it, he just kept looking at House without saying anything. House finally got annoyed with him and rolled his eyes. "What?"

"I spoke to Cuddy a few hours ago."

"And you want me to give you a gold star for that?"

"No." Wilson sat down. "She told me that you showed up at her place at 3.30 in the morning."

"I needed her to approve of a procedure for my patient."

"At 3.30 in the morning and at her house?"

"My patient was dying. We couldn't figure out what was wrong with him and the only thing left to do was to see if the pain was coming from his brain or from his body."

"But at 3.30 in the morning?" House rolled his eyes.

"What is it that you people don't get about the word _dying_? I had to do the procedure otherwise the patient would be dead right now, and in order to do the procedure I needed to get approval from Cuddy. Why is that so hard for you to understand?"

"I understand that perfectly. But what I don't understand is why you didn't call her on her cell first. You banged on her door, and woke up Hope. Couldn't you be a little more considerate around her? You might not be fond of children, but at least be considerate towards her. And towards Cuddy too."

"There's really no time to be considerate when you have a _dying_ patient on your hands. Maybe there is for you since you know a long time in advance that they're going to die before they actually die, but it's a little different for me." Wilson shook his head and put his hands up in surrender.

"Fine. Have it your way. But could you at least from now on be more considerate towards Cuddy and Hope when you don't have a dying patient on your hands?" House looked back on his computer screen. "House? House?" Wilson sighed but tried again. "House?" He shook his head. "Just please think about it, and try to be nice to her. It might not be in your nature, but it's the decent thing to do." House looked back at Wilson.

"I'm off in an hour, so if you're done with the lecture I really need to get back to this." He pointed at the computer screen. "Don't really want to be here after hours." Wilson sighed again and stood up.

"Just think about what I said."

"Bye, bye Wilson." Wilson rolled his eyes.

"See you tomorrow, House." Wilson left the office shaking his head, while House returned to the website for General Hospital he was checking out.

**TBC**


	4. Chapter 4

**memamo:** Thank you very, very much. Yeah, House is really a jerk, and you're right that he has absolutely no right to treat Cuddy the way he does. But unfortunately no matter what anyone says to him, he won't listen, because he's House. Yeah, Cuddy should probably slap him, but she'll never hurt him on purpose physically. I'm glad you like Wilson, and yeah he's definitely a good friend for Cuddy to have around. Chapter 5 will tell you how the visit with he foster caseworker goes, and I agree that Cuddy definitely deserves Hope. Thank you very much for thinking it's amazing and for enjoying the story - it means a lot to me.

**joraco14:** Thank you. I'm glad you like it and that you're reading.

**NOTE:** There won't be an update on Sunday, because I'm moving, and since my parents will be staying until the 5th or the 6th, I'm waiting until Sunday the 8th to post chapter 5.

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**Chapter 4**

Cuddy had planned on cleaning her house when she got home after putting Hope down, but Wilson's idea had stuck in her mind, and she spent the rest of the evening thinking about who could fill in for her.

She had gone over every option in her head several times, and by the time she ate breakfast the next morning, she had made her decision. Now she only had to speak to the board, her bosses, and the person she hoped would fill in for her.

When she arrived at work she got on the phone with her bosses, who all gave her the okay to take time off. She then continued to call all the board members throughout the day when she had a minute to do so, and they all wished her a good time off. When she talked to Wilson, he was very happy to hear that she'd decided to take time off.

Late in the afternoon she only had one thing to do in regards to her leave. She had to find the person she wanted to replace her and ask if she wanted to fill in for her. So she made her way to the ER to find Cameron.

She found Cameron signing charts and waited until she had handed the charts off to one of the nurses before she walked closer.

"Cameron, do you have a minute?" Cameron turned around at the sound of Cuddy's voice.

"Yes." Cuddy walked a few steps away, so that they could have a bit more privacy, and Cameron followed her. She looked at Cuddy curiously. "Is something wrong?" Cuddy shook her head slightly.

"No, not really. But I have something important to ask you."

"Okay that's sounds a little strange. What is it?"

"I've had a lot on my plate lately since I got Hope, so I've decided to go on leave for two months." Cameron raised her eyebrows in surprise, but then nodded.

"That's a bit unexpected but also understandable. But what does that have to do with me?"

"I was hoping you would fill in for me in my absence." That really surprised Cameron.

"Me? You want me to fill in for you?" Cuddy nodded.

"Yes."

"I must say I didn't see that coming. Why me?"

"You've had experience doing administrative work when you worked for House, you're a senior attending in the ER, and you've worked for House. I think it'd be best to have someone, who's worked for him, take my place, because he would be the most difficult part of the job to handle. And let's face it no one else really wants to put up with him, so it might as well be someone, who's dealt with him before."

"House isn't that hard to handle if you just set some boundaries for him." Cuddy crossed her arms across her chest and cocked an eyebrow at Cameron.

"Is that so?" Cameron nodded.

"He acts like a child a lot of the time, and children need boundaries. They need to be told no, and so does House."

"And you don't think I tell him no?" Cameron shook her head.

"No, not really. Sometimes, but not as many times as you probably should. Just look at all the equipment he's damaged over the years, and how much money you've had to spent to replace all of that. If he'd been told no, and been kept on a shorter leash, I think this hospital could've saved a lot of money."

"I see."

"Look, it's not like you're not good at your job as the Dean, because you are, and I know that you've known House for years. But it's just that I worked for him for three years, and working that close with him just gives me a better insight into how he thinks and works."

"Well, since you feel that way, are you interested in the job?" Cameron nodded.

"It sounds very interesting and it would be good for my career. How soon do you need to have an answer?"

"I'd like an answer by tomorrow at noon." Cameron raised her eyebrows a little in surprised and Cuddy smiled a little apologetically in return. "It's short notice, I know. But it was only yesterday that it was suggested to me that I should take some time off, and I'd like to start my leave on Monday. In case you don't want to take over, I need to get in touch with someone else, and that person then has to get back to me too." Cameron nodded.

"Yeah, I can see you need an answer quickly then." Cameron smiled. "I'll have an answer for you by noon tomorrow." Cuddy smiled back.

"Thank you." She looked at her watch. "I should get back." She looked back at Cameron. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Yes. I'll come by your office."

"Thank you. Bye."

"Bye."

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After work Cameron went to Chase's place for dinner. She walked in and followed the smell of food to the kitchen where she found Chase making dinner. She smiled at him and walked over to him to give him a kiss.

"Hi." He smiled back.

"Hey. How was work?"

"Rather interesting actually."

"Oh? What happened?"

"Cuddy offered me her job." Chase stopped stirring the vegetables and looked at her completely surprised.

"What?" She let out a laugh from the expression on his face.

"Not permanently. Just for the next two months starting Monday." He let out a laugh and shook his head.

"I know it wasn't permanently." She gave him a slight glare.

"Gee, thanks." He let out another laugh and went back to stirring the vegetables.

"Oh come on. Cuddy is not about to quit her job, and she's certainly not going to promote you to Dean." Cameron crossed her arms.

"You don't think I could be Dean?" He looked back at her.

"For starters, she's not able to appoint you Dean just like that. Someone with actual experience in that area would be appointed way ahead of you. And no, I don't think you could be Dean." She gaped at him.

"And why not?" He shrugged.

"Can't really explain it. You're just not Dean material."

"Well, Cuddy thinks so. She chose me, and I'm sure there were a bunch of other candidates to choose from." He turned off the stove and added the noodles to the vegetables. He nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sure there was."

"Then how do you explain her choosing me?" He shrugged and took the wok away from the stove and put it on the table.

"I don't." She shook her head annoyed with him as he walked passed her to get the plates out of the cupboard.

"She chose me, because I've had experience doing administrative work when I worked for House, because I'm a senior attending in the ER, and because I've worked for House. She prefers someone, who's worked for House, because apparently she thinks he'd be the most difficult part of the job to handle." He smirked slightly.

"And you don't think he will?" She shook her head as he walked back passed her to set the table.

"No, I don't think it'll be as bad as she thinks." Chase started to laugh out loud. She in return gave him a glare. "Would you stop laughing? I don't think it's funny." He stopped but still had a grin on his face.

"You're naïve if you think he won't be that bad." She protested.

"No, I'm not. I've worked for him for three years, so I know how he works and thinks." Chase shook his head laughing.

"No, you don't." She placed her hands on her hips as he sat down.

"I know House." He looked at her.

"No one knows House. Wilson doesn't even know House completely and he's his best friend. I'm not even sure if House knows himself. If he ever runs out of puzzles to solve, he should try to work himself out. I'm sure that could keep occupied for quite some time." He pointed at the kitchen counter. "Grab the wine." She did and sat down across from him. He put food on their plates as she poured wine into their glasses.

"He's not so hard to figure out as everyone thinks he is." He rolled his eyes.

"Of course he is. He's House. How many times have you sat down with him and talked about his likes and dislikes?"

"I don't need to know about his likes and dislikes in order to know him. I know him more than most people."

"You _assume_ you know him. But other than the obvious facts no one really knows him all that well, because House doesn't let people get that close to him."

"Why do you assume I don't know him?" He shook his head.

"Unlike you, I don't assume. I _know_ that you don't know him as well as you assume. What do you base your so-called knowledge of him on anyway? That one date you had years ago?" She rolled her eyes.

"Don't tell me we're back to that again?" She looked at him. "How many times do I have to tell you that House and I never slept together? Don't you believe that?" He nodded.

"Yeah, I do."

"Then what? You know that I'll always care about him, but that I also don't have any romantic feelings for him anymore. I thought we were passed all that?"

"We are. But I just don't understand what you base your so-called knowledge of House on."

"I base it on the fact that while you and Foreman only studied under him, I also took the time to study him." Chase started to laugh.

"_That's_ what you base it on?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"That's not how you get to know someone. Yeah, you might pick up on their habits and other smaller stuff, but it's not a way to get to know someone." She rolled her eyes.

"Fine. Think what you will. Let's just agree to disagree, and change the subject. Okay?" He stopped laughing but kept his grin plastered on his face and nodded at her.

"Sure." He picked up his glass and took a sip of his wine. "So you never said if you were going to take the job or not."

"I hadn't decided when I got here. But after our little talk, I've decided to take the job." He tried his best to hide a laugh.

"Did you decide to take the job, so that you can prove to us all how well you know House, and how well you can control him?" He started to laugh out loud when she glared at him. She threw her napkin at him.

"Oh shut up." He picked up the napkin and threw it back at her. She looked up at him from her food and returned his smile.

**TBC**


	5. Chapter 5

**memamo: **No need to apologize. :-) There's nothing we can do about the site being down and school work's more important than commenting. :-) Thank you very much - I really appreciate that you think it's amazing. Thank you for thinking it's well written - I hope I won't disappoint in the future. As any writer I'd like more reviews, but I appreciate the ones, I get, and I can't tell you how happy and thrilled I am that you're commenting - thank you, thank you, thank you - it means so much. *hug* I'm glad you liked the Cameron/Chase part - yeah it would be nice if they were on the show more. I hope you'll find it interesting with Cameron filling in for Cuddy. I hope Cuddy's social worker visit won't be too disappointing - some of the first few chapters have a lot of similarities between the show, so some things might not be all that exciting. *lol* I don't know if you spelled it wrong - I'm Danish. *lol* Take your time in reviewing. :-) I'm just thrilled that you do. *hug*

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**Chapter 5**

The next day at 9.00 in the morning Cameron knocked on Cuddy's door. Cuddy looked up as Cameron popped her head in.

"Hi. Do you have a minute?" Cuddy nodded.

"Yes, come in."

"I didn't see the need to wait until noon to give you my answer."

"Okay. So what have you decided?"

"I've decided to fill in for you." Cuddy smiled at Cameron.

"Thank you. I appreciate that." Cameron smiled back and gave a nod.

"You're welcome."

"Do you have some free time now, so that we can go over things?"

"Yes, I do."

"Good. Have a seat."

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At 2.30 Cuddy had just finished gathering her things and was just about ready to head home when she heard the familiar footsteps and the familiar sound of a cane. She sighed not really wanting to deal with House now, but she was happy that Hope was awake and that the door was open. She didn't bother to turn around to face him.

"You're supposed to be in the clinic right now." He ignored her comment.

"What are you doing? It's only 2.30. You can't possibly be going home already." She closed her bag and turned around to look at him.

"I am."

"Just because you're the boss doesn't mean you get to play hooky."

"I'm not playing hooky. I've taken care of today's pressing matters, and since I have enough overtime owed to me, I can leave early." He eyed her.

"But you never go home early just because you can. So why are you leaving now?" She spoke as she walked passed him to get her coat.

"I don't see that that's any of your business. Go do your job in the clinic." He smirked and turned to look at her.

"You know I'm not going to go anywhere until you give me an answer, so you might as well just tell me. Save us both the trouble." She rolled her eyes and sighed. He had a point. Telling him was the only way for her to get out of the office sooner rather than later.

"The foster caseworker is coming to my house at 5.00 to do an inspection of me and the house. Based on that, he determines if I'm qualified to become a foster mom. I haven't had the time to clean my house, so I got the woman, who occasionally cleans my house, to do it. But she called in sick a few hours ago, which is why I have to leave early to clean it myself. You got your answer, so go do your job in the clinic." She finished buttoning her coat and walked back passed House to pick up her bag. He turned in her direction.

"See, here's what I don't get. You haven't even been approved as a foster mom, and yet you've been walking around calling yourself 'mommy' to the kid. You might think it's a pretty picture you've painted for yourself, but you're going to crash and burn when the foster caseworker denies you as a foster mom, and then it's not going to be pretty at all." Again his words hurt her, but instead of showing that, she glared at him.

"I'm not going to be denied."

"Well, if you're so sure of that why haven't you cleaned your house yet? Wouldn't that be a sign of you wanting the caseworker to deny you as a foster mom, because you really don't want the kid?" She gaped at him.

"Of course I want Hope. I already told you that I haven't had the time to clean, and that someone was supposed to have cleaned my house by the time I got home, but that she got sick."

"If you really wanted the kid, you would've found time to clean even if it cost you a couple of hours of sleep."

"If you hadn't bothered me in my office just for the sake of bothering me, I wouldn't have needed to take as much paperwork home with me, and I could've cleaned my house."

"Don't put the blame on me."

"You're partly to blame." She walked over to the stroller and started pushing it towards the door. "Get out." He eyed her for a few seconds but did as she said. However, he only went as far as to stand outside her office waiting for her to lock the door. She gave him a glare. "I told you to go to the clinic." He ignored her comment as she pushed the stroller passed him.

"Maybe I should show up at your place at 5.00 to have a chat with the caseworker. If he's going to approve you as a foster mom, I'm sure he'd want to talk to the people you work with." She spun around, her eyes shooting daggers at him.

"Stay away from my house. Do you hear me? I don't want you anywhere near my house or the caseworker. Do I make myself clear?" He said nothing but just continued to glare at her. "House, I mean it. If I see you anywhere near my house around the time the caseworker comes to my house, I'l…." He cut her off.

"You'll what?"

"I'll assign you extra clinic duty." He scoffed.

"You're pathetic if you really think that'll work. Have you forgotten where I'm supposed to be right now?" She placed her hands on her hips.

"I'll assign a guard to keep an eye on you. He'll make sure you actually see patients and not sleep or play your videogame in the exam room. When you're not with a patient in the exam room, he'll be with you to make sure you don't waste time you could spend on seeing other patients."

"I'm pretty sure that would be considered harassment."

"The same can be said if you show up at my house when the caseworker is there, or otherwise try to go after the caseworker when I've specifically told you to stay away." They glared at each other for a few seconds more. "I mean it, House. Stay away." She turned around and pushed the stroller towards the door.

House watched her leave. When she was out of sight he went to the elevator with no intention of doing clinic duty.

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When Cuddy got home Hope needed to be changed. After she'd done that she put her down for a nap, but ended up just looking down on her for a little while. When she walked out of Hope's room she looked at her watched. 3.30. She was glad she still had plenty of time before the caseworker showed up. She knew she didn't really need to clean her house thoroughly. It wasn't like it was dirty. It was just messy, but still looked like a disaster.

She was just about to walk into the living room when the doorbell rang. She sighed, groaned, and shook her head thinking it better not be House showing up on her door now. But her annoyance was quickly replaced with shock when she opened the door to find the caseworker. He smiled at her.

"Hello Dr. Cuddy. I'm Mitch Harding from DYFS." She stood paralyzed for a few seconds, but then stepped aside to let him in.

"Hello. Come in." She closed the door after him. "I didn't expect you so soon."

"We like to arrive a little early as to get a real feeling of the potential foster parent. However, the reason why I arrive this early is because I got a cancelation and just thought I'd stop by to see if you were home now. That way you'd get this out of the way. I'm assuming it's not a bad time."

"Uh, well I did actually just arrive home a short while ago, and I haven't had time to tidy up yet." She sighed. "My place is literally a mess. Not really in the best state to show off for a house inspection, and I sincerely apologize for that." He smiled and nodded.

"Well, since I'm here let's take a look around, shall we?" Cuddy nodded.

"Yes, of course."

As they walked through the house the caseworker asked question after question and made notes on the piece of paper on his clipboard. Although Cuddy had had a good feeling about being approved as a foster mom before the caseworker showed up, she had a bad feeling now. To her the caseworker didn't comment much on the answers she gave but rather just made notes. Then there was still the matter of her messy house, which she felt so embarrassed about, and as they headed back to the living room she started to feel even more embarrassed since that was the messiest place of the whole house and therefore her biggest concern. She felt ashamed for having to show off her living room like this, and it made her feel like a failure too.

"Any weapons in the house? Firearms? Knives other than kitchen knives?" Cuddy shook her head.

"No, none at all."

"Any pets."

"No, I don't have any of those either." She watched him look around her messy living room. "I'm really sorry about this mess. It's not usually like this." He made a final note and turned around and smiled at her.

"You have nothing to worry about, Dr. Cuddy." She looked at him surprised.

"I don't?" He shook his head and smiled.

"You have more than a big enough income to support the two of you and make sure she'll get a good life. Furthermore you have a high degree of stability both personally and professionally, and the fact that you're so embarrassed by the mess this place is in, shows just how much you care. All that combined puts you at the top of list of the foster moms I visit." Cuddy was still shocked.

"Really?" He nodded and continued to smile as he stuck his hand out for her to shake.

"Congratulations, Dr. Cuddy. You've been approved as a foster mom." She shook his hand and started to smile a little even though she still didn't believe that she'd been approved.

"Thank you."

"I'll be back in a year to check on how things are going. But that's only if you haven't adopted her by then." Cuddy smiled more now.

"I'm hoping to have adopted her by then." He nodded.

"Given her history and your background and your approval now, I don't think it'll take that long for you to adopt her. I don't see this as being a long drawn out adoption process, and I'll make sure to put in a good word in my report." She smiled more.

"Thank you." He nodded once.

"This girl's going to have a good life with a loving mother, and that's what we want for all the children that are in need of adoption or foster care. We'll only be glad to help in any way we can to make that happen."

"I really appreciate that."

"My pleasure. Take care, Dr. Cuddy."

"You too, Mr. Harding."

After she'd seen the caseworker off, she went into the living room and sat down. She leaned back on the couch and sighed heavily rubbing her hands over her head. This wasn't how she had wanted to show off her house. She had failed by her own standards and that bothered her, though at the same time she was thrilled that she'd been approved. She knew this would bother her for some time yet, and so she stayed seated on the couch for a little while longer before getting up to clean the living room.

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At 5.30 Wilson was just leaving the hospital and heading towards his car when his phone rang. Not bothering to look, who was calling, he answered it.

"Hello?"

"_Hey, Wilson, it's me."_ He smiled at the sound of Cuddy's voice knowing that the caseworker had already been at her house and left again, because she had promised to call him when she knew the verdict.

"Hi. How did it go?"

"_I got approved."_

"I knew it." She chuckled at the other end over the excitement in his voice. "Congratulations."

"_Thank you."_

"Do you have any plans for tonight?"

"_What kind of plans would I have? I have a baby, you know."_ She chuckled and he nodded realizing she had a point. He chuckled himself.

"Yes, of course. I was just wondering if you were preparing dinner. If you're not, I could stop by to pick up some and be at your place in forty-five minutes to an hour? We need to celebrate this." He heard the smile in her voice as she answered.

"_Alright. That sounds nice. Thank you."_

"No problem. Any kind of food you prefer?"

"_No, I'll let you decide."_

"Okay. I'll be there as fast as I can."

"_Take your time. Bye Wilson."_

"Bye Cuddy."

Wilson put his cell phone in his pocket and couldn't hide the huge smile on his face. He was happy for Cuddy, and happy that he got to be an uncle to Hope, whom he was already extremely fond of, and who would no doubt have him doing and getting her everything she wanted the minute she got the chance. By the time he got to his car he'd decided to get Chinese food for dinner and to also stop at a toy store.

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Nearly an hour later the doorbell rang once again at Cuddy's place. She opened the door to find Wilson with a huge smile on his face, a bag with food in one hand, and a huge stuffed animal in the other hand. She chuckled as she let him inside and he walked passed her.

"They didn't come in a smaller size?"

"She already has a bunch of huge stuffed animals, so I figured one more wouldn't hurt." She nodded as he placed the stuffed animal in the living room in one of the chairs. When he'd done that he turned around to give her a hug, which she returned smiling. "Congratulations."

"Thank you." He held up the plastic bag with the food in.

"I got Chinese food."

"Sounds good and smells delicious. Go sit down on the couch, and I'll bring us something to drink. I have wine if you want?" He nodded.

"Yeah, I'd like a glass of wine."

"Okay. Be right back."

She went to the kitchen as he placed the bag on the ground and took off his coat. By the time he picked up the bag again, she joined him in the living room. She poured the wine as he took out the food and moments later they were both digging in.

After a few moments Wilson took a break from eating and looked at Cuddy.

"So everything went well with the caseworker? I mean, I know it did, but how did the inspection go in general?" She took a sip of wine and sat the glass down again sighing.

"It went just fine. A little fast, surprisingly. It seemed he was satisfied with just getting the answers to his questions, and knowing what my job was and how much I make." He looked at her a little confused.

"I don't get it. You said he was satisfied with your answers and background, and yet you don't seem too happy about it. The inspection might've been quick, but the man knows what he's doing. He wouldn't just approve of you without being absolutely sure." She nodded.

"I know."

"So what's the problem?"

"I failed by my own standards."

"Your own standards?"

"This place was a disaster when the caseworker got here. The woman, who occasionally cleans my house when I'm too busy to do it myself, was supposed to clean it today, but she called in sick, so I had to take off work earlier to do it. That was fine, except the caseworker showed up an hour and a half earlier than expected, which gave me no time to clean." Wilson shrugged.

"So? You still passed." She shook her head.

"That's not the point. The point is that I've had too much going on and not taken the time to clean well in advance. I have a child to take care of, so I shouldn't neglect on a thing like keeping my house clean."

"But that's exactly the point. You passed in spite of a messy house."

"But I should never have let it come to that. If I was better organized or better at not putting up with House and his insanity and rudeness, my pile of paperwork would never have gotten as big as it got, and I wouldn't have brought so much paperwork home with me, which means that I would've been better prepared for the inspection."

"Cuddy, you don't have supernatural powers and can have this place cleaned within ten seconds and can take care of everything else in twenty. You're in a whole new situation. You're running a hospital and that's no ordinary job, nor is it an easy one. On top of that you have a baby to take care of, and that's something you've never done before. You have to do all that with hardly any help. Most people in your situation would've hired a whole team of people to help out, but you choose to do everything mostly on your own. And while I think that's admirable, I also think that you're taking on too much at once, and that's why you, in your opinion, can't measure up to the insanely high standards you set for yourself."

"Well, I am taking leave like you suggested." He nodded.

"Yes, and I think that's great that you decided to do that. But maybe when you get back from leave you should think of hiring someone to help out."

"We've talked about this and as far as I remember, you're the one, who said that with all the time I spend working in my office, I could easily have Hope there and look after her at the same time." He nodded.

"Yes, I did say that. But I didn't necessarily mean just now that you should hire a nanny and leave Hope home with him or her."

"What did you mean then?"

"You could hire an assistant to help out with your paperwork. That way you won't have to bring any paperwork home with you."

"Any assistant wouldn't last that long after he or she has met House and experienced first hand what he's like." Wilson chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess you've got a point." He took a sip of his wine. "Speaking of House, have you told him that you're going on leave for two months?" She shook her head.

"No, but I sent him a memo just like I sent one to all department heads."

"Well seeing as he hardly ever checks any memos, I don't think he knows anything."

"I'm sure we would've both known if he knew." Wilson nodded agreeing with that. "Do you plan on telling him?" He shook his head.

"No. I think it'll be more fun to have him find out on his own. Besides, it might help him check his memos."

"Nothing will help him check his memos." Wilson chuckled again and nodded.

"True." She smiled at him and picked up her food and resumed eating. He took another sip of wine, before he too dug into his food again.

**TBC**


	6. Chapter 6

**lisalover23: **Thank you for liking my story, reading, and commenting. :-) I know that so far the story has followed much the same storyline as the show, though I'd also say that most of the different 'scenes' in my story haven't been on or even mentioned on the show. Unfortunately as far as originality goes the next few chapters will also contain a lot of what has been going on, on the show - and a bit more than in the previous chapters. However, things are going to change and the story is going to get original. The episodes that have been on after New Year have been a good way for me to start my story, and to let them be a jumping board for what's going to happen in the story. Therefore I've used some of the things and storyline from the first few episodes from the new year. But a few chapters from now things will start to not follow the way of the show - at least not with the episodes that have been so far - at least not after _Big Baby_. In my story there are things in store for House, Cuddy, and Wilson - probably for some of the others too, but I haven't thought that far. *lol* I can also tell you that Blythe will turn up as well as other family members to one of the other characters, and that a new doctor will eventually join the hospital. So eventually my story will be original - well that's only if for some strange reason the same things happen on the show before I've posted the chapters. *lol* The next few chapters will feature a lot from the episode _Big Baby_, but some things are a little different. I hope the plot so far won't stop you from reading. :-) Thanks again. :-)

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**Chapter 6**

Monday morning at 9.30 Chase walked towards Cuddy's office. He hadn't seen Cameron since yesterday. She'd told him then that she'd be at work at 7.30 the next day wanting to get an early start and because she knew that he'd be in surgery later in the day, and didn't want him to wake up earlier than he had to, she'd spent the night at her own place alone.

When he got to the office he saw her sitting at the desk going over paperwork. The door was open so instead of knocking he walked right in.

"Hey." She looked up and smiled at him.

"Hey yourself." She then got up and walked around the desk to give him a kiss. However, she stopped shortly before reaching him and gave him a puzzled look as he was staring at her with his mouth slightly open. "What's wrong?"

"Your outfit. What in the world are you wearing?" Cameron looked down at the same colored blue long skirt and blouse she was wearing.

"It's business attire. I bought it specifically to wear when I filled in for Cuddy. You didn't actually think I'd be wearing my scrubs, did you?"

"No, of course not. But I did think you would wear something else."

"What's wrong with it?"

"Well, for starters it's as blue as this case file." He held up the case file he was holding. She gave him a slight glare and spoke dryly.

"Anything else."

"It's really old-fashioned." She gaped at him.

"It is not. Cuddy wears outfits like this." He shook his head.

"No she doesn't. She might wear some old fashioned, matron-like shirt from time to time, but that's nothing compared to what you're wearing. You look like my granny in that outfit." She looked at him incredulously.

"That's a horrible thing to say." He shrugged.

"Well it's the truth. I have a picture of my granny wearing a similar outfit. Though, hers was brown." She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Couldn't you at least have lied and said it looked nice?"

"Why? If I said I liked it, you would just wear it at some point, and I'd have to suffer seeing you in it, and thinking about my granny the whole time." She grumbled.

"Well, I'm sorry you never liked your granny."

"I loved my granny, but I just don't think she was sexy. And while I think you are, I'd get the mental image of my granny every time I see you in that outfit, and I really don't want that." She smiled a little.

"Since you put it like that, I guess I can let the comment about my outfit slide." She walked closer to him, so she could kiss him, but he took a step backwards.

"What are you doing?"

"I was just going to give you a kiss. What's wrong with that?"

"Didn't you just hear what I said? When I look at you I get the mental image of my granny. I don't want to have that image in my mind when you kiss me."

"So I can't give you a kiss all day, just because I'm wearing this outfit?"

"If I looked like your granddad, would you want to stick your tongue down my throat?" She grimaced.

"Point taken."

"Please tell me you didn't buy that many outfits similar to this one?" Cameron had gone shopping Saturday and brought the clothes home to her place without showing any of the outfits to Chase. She shrugged.

"Well, everything I bought is business attire, so I guess you just have to judge for yourself." He rolled his eyes. She gave him a slight glare in response. "But in my opinion, I think everything else is a bit different from this outfit." He smiled.

"Good." She smiled back. "So have you managed to control House yet?" She rolled her eyes while he smirked.

"As far as I know he hasn't shown up for work yet. No surprise there."

"So are you going to yell at him for being late when he finally does show up? Are you going to try and prove you have what it takes to control him?" He couldn't stop the grin that formed on his face. She gave him another glare.

"Don't you have work to do?" He smirked.

"Are you trying to control me now?"

"I don't have to control you, because you actually do your job." He crossed his arms across his chest.

"I might just start to refuse."

"You'll do no such thing."

"What are you going to do if I do?"

"Well, I'll….uh…..I…..um…." He cut her off and spoke sarcastically.

"Wow, you really know how to put me in my place." He laughed while she glared at him once more.

"Just get back to work."

"Make me."

"You have a surgery scheduled for 10.30, so you don't really have a choice."

"You're lucky I do, because otherwise you'd have a hard time getting me to do my job." She rolled her eyes. "Enjoy your day." He started to walk towards the door.

"Do you want to grab something to eat later or get some coffee?" He turned around looking at her like she'd grown an extra head.

"You have got to be kidding. I don't hang out with Cuddy, so I have no intention of hanging out with her replacement. Everyone would just think I was the teacher's pet."

"What, so for the next two months you're not going to have lunch with me or coffee or anything?"

"That's right. Got to go. Bye." He left with a grin on her face, and she rolled her eyes and returned to her desk.

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Just passed 11.00 House walked into his office and threw down his bag pack. He then walked into the conference room where Taub was reading a journal and Kutner was doing a crossword puzzle.

"Where's Foreteen?" Taub didn't bother looking up from his journal, but Kutner looked up at House confused.

"Who?" Taub couldn't hold back the grin that formed on his face when House rolled his eyes. He looked at Kutner.

"Okay, time for today's pop quiz. There are four of you on this team, but only two of you in the room. Which two people are missing? Now if you give me the wrong answer, you don't get your cookie." Kutner looked away from House embarrassed that he hadn't figured out who House was referring too, while the grin on Taub's face only grew a little wider.

House slammed his cane down on the table in front of Kutner, which caused both Kutner and Taub to jump a little in their seats. They both looked up at House, but House only looked at Kutner waiting for an answer.

"I know who you were referring to." House gave Kutner an over-exaggerated fake proud smile.

"Good for you." Kutner looked away embarrassed. House took his cane away from the table and looked between the two. When no one said anything for a few moments, he rolled his eyes. "Do not make me ask you again." Taub sighed knowing House knew perfectly well where Foreman and Thirteen were, but he looked up at him anyway and answered him.

"Clinic trials."

"So obviously that means no case." Kutner and Taub both nodded. "Well, in that case, I'm going to go and mess with Cuddy." He looked at his watch. "She should be in her office now. You two make yourselves useful." He poked Kutner in his stomach with his cane as he was about to leave. "I lied. You don't get a cookie. They just make you fat anyway." Kutner gaped at House while Taub just went back to reading his journal as House left.

When House left, Kutner looked at Taub.

"Am I gaining weight?" Taub didn't look up from the journal.

"I really don't bother to notice whether you gain weight or not." Kutner sighed, hoping he'd gotten a better answer from Taub.

They sat still for a few moments, when something House said dawned on Kutner.

"Didn't House say that he was going to go bother Cuddy in her office?"

"Yes, I believe that's what he said."

"But Cuddy won't be in her office. She's on leave."

"Yes, she is."

"Wouldn't House know that?"

"Seems like, he doesn't. I doubt he read the memo." Kutner nodded knowing that House hardly ever read any memos.

"Yeah that's right. But shouldn't we tell him that Cameron's taken over for Cuddy for the next two months?"

"I don't see why we should do that. It wouldn't kill him to realize that he's not on top of everything and knows everything that goes on here." Kutner looked at Taub for a moment, wondering if he should tell House anyway. But he then rubbed his stomach on the place where House had poked him, and he just smirked.

"Yeah, you're right. It's better not to tell him." Taub just nodded and Kutner went back to his crossword puzzle.

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Moments later House barged into Cuddy's office. The loud sound of the doors slamming opened caused Cameron to slightly jump in her seat. However, House hadn't noticed that and hadn't even noticed that it wasn't Cuddy sitting in the chair behind the desk. He just began speaking as loud as usual and looking around the room as he walked in.

"There are no red lollipops left, and I refuse to work until you fin……" He finally looked straight ahead and noticed that Cameron was sitting in Cuddy's chair looking back at him with a smile on her face. He frowned. "Where's Cuddy?"

"Hello Dr. House." He rolled his eyes.

"Oh good god, don't tell me we're going down that road again where you're going to manipulate everyone. Spare us all, and just go straight to telling me where Cuddy is." She ignored him and stood up from her seat and walked around the desk coming to stand in front of him.

"Dr. Cuddy has taken two months leave to stay home with her daughter." House eyed her for a few seconds but then started to laugh.

"Good one. Not the best joke I've ever heard, but the best one I've heard since coming to work today." He looked around the office again. "No seriously, where's Cuddy?" Before Cameron could answer him he limped towards the bathroom and started yelling. "Cuddy, it's time to wipe that gigantic ass of yours. I know it takes a while, but there are more important things to do." He banged on it. When he got no response, he opened it and frowned when he didn't find Cuddy in there.

"Satisfied?" He turned around frowning and limped back to Cameron.

"Where's Cuddy?"

"I already told you. She's taken two months off to stay home with her daughter."

"You know that joke wasn't really that funny the first time, and it's getting even less funny now." He started to get annoyed. "Where's Cuddy?"

"As I've already told you several times, she's on leave so that she can take care of her daughter. She's put me in charge, because I've had experience doing administrative work when I worked for you, because I'm a senior attending in the ER, and because I've worked for you, and she prefers someone, who's worked for you, because apparently she thinks you'd be the most difficult part of the job to handle."

He stared at her for a few seconds and then started laughing. She gave him a glare when he wouldn't stop and he pointed a finger at her, and after another few moments he had controlled his laughter somewhat.

"See that right there is a much better joke than the first one." She crossed her arm across her chest.

"It's no joke House. I'm in charge of the hospital for the next two months. Deal with it." He cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Seriously?"

"Yes." He shook his head.

"There's no way Cuddy would put you of all people in charge."

"And why not? You don't think I can fill her shoes?" He smirked at her.

"No, and your funbags can't fill her shirt either." Cameron was too shocked by his comment to say anything, and House smirked triumphantly.

By the time Cameron was ready with a comeback, House had already left the office.

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Moments later House barged into Wilson's office and slammed the door.

Wilson was engrossed with reading a file that he didn't bother looking up, and knew fully well that House would probably eventually talk.

However, after a few seconds of just listening to House pace back and forth his office, Wilson had had enough.

"Did you want something House, or are you just trying to see if you can put a hole in my carpet? If it's the first then make it quick, because I've got a lot of work to get to. If it's the last, please go and make a hole in someone else's carpet. Your office is right next door, so why not try that one." Wilson was quiet, waiting for House to respond but still looked at the file, but when House hadn't said anything after a while, Wilson took the file out of his hands and looked up at House. "House, would you stop pacing, and just tell me what's on your mind, so that I can get back to work?" House stopped pacing, but then walked over to Wilson's couch and sat down stomping his cane in the ground. Wilson looked at him for a few moments and took in House's body language. "Why are you sulking?"

"I'm not sulking."

"Yes, you are." House whined in response.

"Am not." Wilson groaned and put his hands up to his forehead already feeling a headache starting to build up.

"House, you've been in my office less than five minutes, and my head is already starting to hurt. I have a busy schedule today, so could you please just tell me what's wrong, so that I can get back to work?" House was still silent, and Wilson got slightly irritated. "House! Just get to the point and stop stomping your cane in the ground." House looked over at Wilson and only lightly stomped his cane in the ground.

"Cameron was in Cuddy's office sitting at her desk. She said that Cuddy has taken the next two months off to be home with that kid. But clearly that's some twisted joke, because there's no way that Cuddy would ever take time off."

"It's no joke, House." House looked at Wilson like he'd grown two extra heads.

"Seriously?" Wilson nodded.

"Yes." House got annoyed.

"When the hell did she decide that, and why wasn't I told?"

"She decided last week, and she sent out a memo to every department head. But as always, you didn't read that memo."

"When did she decide last week?" Wilson thought for a moment.

"Well, let's see. I talked to her about taken leave Wednesday, so I rea…." That's as far as he got in his explanation before House caught him off by slightly yelling at him and getting quickly off from the couch.

"You suggested to Cuddy that she go on leave?" Wilson stared a little wide eyed at House at his outburst and the fact that he was standing in front of his desk now.

"Yes, I did."

"What the hell did you do that for?"

"Cuddy was exhausted. She's trying to run a hospital while at the same time taking care of a baby. Not to mention that a certain someone keeps interrupting her work so that she's forced to bring paperwork home with her." House pointed his cane at Wilson, which caused Wilson to push his chair back a little to keep a safe distance from the cane.

"Do not blame me for her slacking off at work?" Wilson blinked a few times to see if he'd heard House correctly.

"Slacking off?" Wilson shook his head. "She's not slacking off. And you can't deny that you constantly interrupt her."

"She's the Dean. I need to get approval from her on some of the procedures just as much as you do. Or did you forget about that?"

"No, I didn't. And while I need approval too, I don't go barging into her office and raise my voice. You know that she has Hope in her office, but that doesn't cause you to be calm in the least. And because of that she was worn out and exhausted and needs time to rest and take care of Hope."

"See, this just proves that she can't take care of everything. She's not fit to raise a child if she can't do her job at the same time." Wilson looked at him incredulously.

"You can't honestly mean that?" House was silent just glaring back at Wilson. Wilson then shook his head, and went on. "Mothers go on maternity leave after having giving birth. Cuddy might not have given birth, but she's just as much in need of leave as any other mother. She's perfectly capable of raising a child. And so far she's done nothing but a great job, and she'll continue to do so. She's going to raise one hell of a daughter."

"That kid is not her daughter." Wilson stood up.

"She will be. She was approved to be a foster mom by the foster caseworker, who came to her house Friday. The caseworker gave her a great review and promised to put in a good word for her, and said it probably wouldn't take the usual amount of time for Cuddy to adopt Hope, because of Hope's history and Cuddy's background and approval. Cuddy talked about getting in touch with her lawyer this week to get the ball rolling on the adoption."

"How do you know all of this?"

"She called me Friday to tell me that she'd been approved. I went over to her place after with dinner, and we talked about everything for the rest of the evening."

House gave Wilson a look that he couldn't decipher. It was the same look he'd given him and Cuddy at the baby store when he first found out that she'd been approved to adopt. But House's face quickly turned to an angry glare.

"And you didn't bother telling me about any of it?" That took Wilson by surprise, but he didn't get to think more about it as House went on. "Well, some friend you are."

"You know, if you just talked to Cuddy like any other normal human would do, you might find out a few things on your own. If you were nice to her and to Hope, she'd probably have told you everything too." House started limping towards the door. Wilson shook his head and sighed heavily. "You need to accept the fact that Cuddy's going to adopt Hope, and that she'll officially be her daughter just as much as she already is."

House slammed the door shut loudly without saying anything to Wilson. Wilson sat back down in his chair and started to rub his hands over his head. The headache was really bad now.

**TBC**


	7. Chapter 7

**joraco14: **Thank you. I appreciated it. :-)

**memamo: **There's no need to apologize at all. :-) Things get in the way for everyone or other things are more important, so it's perfectly understandable. :-) Thank you very much for thinking it's awesome. I really appreciate you loving it and thinking the writing is amazing. :-) I hope you'll continue to love where this goes. Yeah, whenever I read fan fics, I'm often amazed of the quality of people's imagination and writing skills, and often I think that shows could've easily gone that way. I'm glad you think Chase is hilarious. Yes, he's definitely a lot like House on the show, so it'd only seem right that he'd act that way towards Cameron, when she's incharge. I'm thrilled you love the part with House and Wilson. :-) I don't know if Wilson will make House see that he's being a jerk, but he'll try. Yes, Wilson's definitely love. I try to update every Sunday, but can't promise I'll be able to keep it up. Thanks again. :-)

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**Chapter 7**

The rest of Cameron's first day went somewhat good, but she'd had a huge problem. She hadn't been able to find House anywhere since he left Cuddy's office. She'd tried calling him, text messaging him, and paging him, but nothing had helped. She'd asked his team if they knew where he was, but they didn't, and it didn't help when they called, text messaged, or paged him either. She'd then talked to Wilson, but he hadn't seen him either since he left his office, and when he tried calling, text messaging, and paging House he didn't get a response either.

She'd tried looking for him everywhere in the hospital, but hadn't found him in any of his usual hideouts. She didn't want to bother asking Chase if he'd seen House, because she knew Chase would only give her a hard time about not being able to control House.

Eventually she thought he'd gone home early and had stopped looking for him as she had other things to attend to, but when she left the hospital, and asked the front desk about whether they'd seen House, she was told that he'd left at 5.00.

When she got home, she had hoped to relax after an exhausting day, but Chase had naturally found out that she hadn't been able to find House and had teased her about it all night, so she hadn't been able to relax properly.

The next day went much the same way. House had showed up late as usual, but hadn't bothered her this time. However, she wasn't able to find him all day. Again she'd asked his team and Wilson, but the team hadn't seen him since he came in, and Wilson hadn't seen him at all, and once again he didn't respond to their calls, text messages, or pages. They'd thought about sending him a text message or a page saying they had a case, but knew that if they told that lie, they'd never hear the end of it from him, and he would find some way of getting back at them. No one wanted his retaliation.

When she left for the day, she again found out that House had left at 5.00. She left the hospital shaking her head all the way to her car, and once home Chase again teased her about not being able to control House.

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Wednesday was the same for Cameron, but on Thursday she finally decided to go and find Chase to ask him if he knew where House was. She wasn't thrilled that she had to go and ask him, because she knew he'd only tease her more. But knowing that they often teamed up when a bet was involved, she thought they might've done it this time too, just to piss her off.

She went to look for him around lunch time and found him in the cafeteria. When she reached the table he was sitting at and was about to speak, he held up his hand stopping her.

"I already told you I'm not hanging out with you, so you might as well just leave right now." He grinned at her while she gave him a glare and sat down.

"Have you seen House?" She waited for him to answer but when he hadn't said anything in a long time, she groaned. "Chase! Would you please answer me?" He smirked at her.

"Can't found House today either?" She continued to glare at him a bit more, but finally gave up and sighed heavily.

"No, I can't find him. Do you know where he's hiding?" He looked at her confused.

"Why are you asking me that?"

"Because, the two of you have a habit of making deals with each other, when a bet is involved. I wouldn't put it passed House to have a bet going on as to whether or not I'll be able to find him. And I wouldn't be surprised if he convinced you to be part of it, and help keep his hideout a secret from me." He gaped at her.

"You can't be serious?"

"It's not an unlikely thought."

"In this case it is. You're my girlfriend. You honestly think I'd hide House's whereabouts from you, just to make a bit of cash? I might be a little richer, but you'd be pissed off at me, and I wouldn't want that. Besides, I want you to do well filling in for Cuddy, even though I've been teasing you about it. So no, I don't know where House is hiding, nor have I seen him." She sighed again and smiled apologetically at him.

"I'm sorry for thinking you might be in on a bet with him."

"You better find another way to make it up to me other than an apology."

"Can't you just accept my apology?" He shook his head and smirked.

"No, it's going to cost you." She rolled her eyes.

"Fine. Name your price."

"You're cooking dinner for the rest of the week as well as all of next week. You're going to do my laundry, which I'd start with because there's a big load. And you're going to clean up after dinner yourself." She gaped at him.

"You've got to be kidding?"

"You said to name my price."

"I made one little mistake of thinking you were in on a bet with House. The price should not be that high."

"It is, and if you don't pay I'm getting in touch with House and starting that bet." She narrowed her eyes at him.

"You wouldn't?" He smirked even more.

"You know I would." She groaned.

"Fine. You can have it your way."

"That's what I thought." She looked at her watch.

"I have to go."

"Good. I don't want to be seen hanging out with you anyway." He winked at her and she smile at him.

"See you later."

"Bye." She got up and left and Chase went back to eating his lunch.

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Cameron didn't find House for the rest of the day, just like she hadn't found him the previous days. She'd thought about being in the lobby at 5.00 to have a word with him, but she'd been in a meeting, but found out that he'd been there at that time and gone home.

Friday turned out the same as all the other days, however on this day she had a chance to be in the lobby just before 5.00, and sure enough a few minutes later at exactly 5.00, he came out of the elevator ready to go home.

House noticed her standing by the front desk in the lobby with her arms crossed over her chest, when he got off the elevator, but he didn't acknowledge her presence when he went to sign out for the day. However, he could tell that she wanted him to. It was only when he went to get passed her that she stepped out in front of him to stop him from leaving that he, acknowledge her.

"Dr. House, I need a word with you."

"It'll have to be at some other time, because I'm done for today." He tried to limp passed her but she followed his movements, so he stopped.

"You're done? I haven't seen you since Monday in my office, so I wou…" He cut her off.

"It's not your office." She lost her train of thought for a moment from his interruption, but then shook her head and went on.

"Fine, whatever. The point is, I haven't seen you since Monday and I know you haven't been doing your job."

"I haven't had a case."

"You still have clinic duty and a bunch of paperwork you could catch up on. You have a duty to this hospital and can't just show up late, then leave, and then turn back up again when it's time to go home."

"I haven't gone anywhere. I've been in the hospital the whole time since I got here this morning. Same goes for every other day of this week. I'm going to go now." He tried to get passed her, but she still kept getting in his way, so he stopped again.

"You don't honestly expect me to believe that. I've been looking for you everywhere, and I haven't found you."

"Believe what you will, but I've been here."

"I've checked all of your hideouts, and you haven't been in one of them. And no one else knew where you were." He started to get annoyed.

"It's not like people know everything about me."

"Fine. So say I believe you've been here. Where have you been?"

"I'm not telling."

"I demand to know where you've been hiding." He started to laugh and then answered her sarcastically.

"Oh, I'm so scared." She gaped at him. "Well, I'm off." He started to get passed her and managed, but she grabbed his arm when she snapped back to attention.

"You're not going anywhere until you tell me where you've been." He got annoyed again.

"Let go of me or I'll file charged against you for assault." She let go of his arm quickly and he started to limp towards the door. However, that didn't stop her from calling after him.

"House, I want to know where you've been hiding." He looked over his shoulder as he kept moving.

"It's 5.03, which means I was off three minutes ago, which further means I don't have to listen to your crap. You can tell me on Monday. That's of course if you can find me." He was out the door before she could say anything in return, and she was left with her mouth hanging open.

**TBC**


	8. Chapter 8

**miss-Lore: **Thank you very much for reading and commenting - I really appreciate it. :-) I'm glad you like the chapter and I'm thrilled that you think I write pretty well - thank you. :-) There'll be some Cameron in the new chapter since she's filling in for Cuddy - sorry about that. *lol* Time will tell if you get to see Huddy or if you just get to see House and Cuddy. *lol* Thanks again. :-)

**NOTE: **The next chapter will be posted 3 weeks from now.

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**Chapter 8**

When House walked into his office Monday morning just after 10.30 a.m., he noticed Cameron waiting for him in the conference room along with Foreman, Thirteen, Taub, and Kutner. He dropped his backpack next to his desk before going to the conference room.

"So nice of you to finally join us, Dr. House."

"Are you here to try to play big, bad boss lady again like you tried Friday?"

"No, not at the moment, but we will sit down and have a conversation about your behavior." House rolled his eyes while the rest of them tried their best to hide a grin behind Cameron's back not really thinking she would ever be able to have such a talk with House. "You have a case. Twenty-nine year old teacher, works with special needs children. She started coughing up bloo…." He snatched the file out of her hands thereby cutting off her speech.

"This might come as a total shock to you, but I can actually read." House started to read the file, and didn't notice the glare he was receiving from Cameron.

"When we have that discussion about your behavior, it will also include a thorough talk on how you're supposed to treat your superior." He looked up from the file.

"You're still here?" She put her hands on her hip.

"Dr. House I'm serious."

"And I'm not? Because it seems to me that I have a patient to save, and if you insist on babbling on and on about whatever nonsense you were babbling about, the patient's probably going to die, and it'll be all, your fault." She gaped while he smirked. "Run along now." She gave him another glare.

"This isn't over, Dr. House." He still smirked.

"Yes, it is." She turned around towards the others, who quickly all replaced their grin with a straight face.

"Keep me updated." They all nodded and she left. House rolled his eyes.

"Finally we can get to work."

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A couple of hours later after doing several tests, House barged into Cuddy's office. Cameron was on the phone and rolled her eyes at House's intrusion.

"Something's come up that I have to deal with, so I'm going to have to call you back. Thank you." She hung up and leaned back in the chair.

"What can I do for you, Dr. House?"

"Wow, you must really be suffering from memory loss, if you can't remember you giving me a case a few hours ago, and then figure out that's the reason why I'm here."

"Fine, it's about your case. What about it?"

"The patient has ITP, so we need to hit her with radiation." She crossed her arms across her chest and smirked at him.

"You expect me to say no, and have a big scene about it here thereby thinking that I think, I can control you. But you also expect me to say no to this crazy idea, so that when you come here the next time asking for something marginal crazy, I would say yes because it would seem marginal reasonable. However, if I say yes, you won't expect that, and you'll have to come up with a reason to not do the procedure. How am I doing so far?" House hadn't expected her to figure him out, but he didn't let it show.

"So is that a yes or a no to the procedure?"

"We both know that the procedure is premature, reckless, and potentially lethal."

"So, yes or no?"

"We also both know I'm going to say no. So why don't you just go back to working on curing your patient and leave me alone to do my job?" He shook his head once.

"You still haven't given me a proper answer." She rolled her eyes.

"No. The answer is no, Dr. House." Now he smirked.

"See, was that so hard to say?" He limped out the office before she could say anything else.

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For the rest of the day the team put the patient through more test but with no clues for the proper treatment.

The next day the team informed their patient that she'd be brought to another room in order to perform a test and that they'd come for her in fifteen minutes. When they came to take her to the other room the patient said she needed to go to the bathroom first, and on her way she had a heart attack. They brought her back to life, and because of the heart attack they were able to rule out ITP.

After making sure the patient was stable, they'd all gone back to the conference room with House and gone over several ideas.

"She needs an ice bath." Kutner shook his head.

"That could give her another heart attack. We can't take that risk." Taub looked at House.

"You'll have to get Cameron's approval to do it."

"This procedure isn't as crazy as the other one I had, so she's bound to say yes." Foreman smirked at him.

"But Cameron was on to you the last time, so what makes you think she'll approve this time?" House narrowed his eyes at Foreman.

"How do you know about that?"

"We had coffee in the cafeteria, and got to talking."

"Traitor." Foreman just smirked at House even more. "You're off my Valentine's Day card list. And to think I had picked out a nice card with bunnies for you. What a waste of money." Foreman just laughed and shook his head at House, while House left the conference room to talk to Cameron.

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House barged into Cuddy's office. When Cameron heard him she looked up at him annoyed.

"Dr. House, you need to learn how to knock." He ignored her comment.

"My patient needs an ice bath."

"And why's that?"

"We need to find out if her body is making a toxin."

"Giving her an ice bath could make her have another heart attack."

"She needs to have the ice bath in order for us to figure out what's wrong with her." Cameron shook her head.

"No, I'm not risking her having a heart attack. There's no medical justification for that." He shook his head not believing what she'd said. He then got annoyed.

"No medical justification? What kind of bullshit answer is that? Cuddy made the worst mistake ever when she put you in charge. We'll draw some blood to see if it clumps in the cold. That way, you'll get confirmation on my theory before we get her into the ice bath. Happy now?" Cameron nodded.

"That certainly seems more appropriate."

"Good, glad you agree." He started to limp towards the door.

"Wait a minute. I need more information about your theory."

"Don't have the time. Have a patient to save." He was out the door before she could say anything else and all she could do was shake her head.

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When House came back to the conference room, they all looked up at him waiting to hear from him what Cameron had said.

"Well?"

"Little Miss I-want-to-prove-that-I'm-as-good-as-Cuddy-and-that-I-can-control-House said no at first, but when I told her that we'd draw some blood first to prove my theory, she agreed." Thirteen nodded.

"That's good." House shook his head.

"The test will only prove what I already know it'll prove. She's only delaying things." He looked at Taub and Kutner. "Go draw the blood." He then looked at Foreman and Thirteen. "You run the test." They all nodded.

"What are you going to do?" House noticed Wilson getting on the elevator and then looked at his watch.

"I'm going to lunch." Without another word he limped out of the conference room and headed for the elevator. The others looked at each other for a brief moment, but then went about doing what they'd been told.

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House caught up with Wilson in the cafeteria and got behind him in line. Noticing someone behind him Wilson looked over his shoulder and wasn't surprised to see House there.

"Do you have an internal clock or something that tells you when I go to lunch?"

"Yes. It's called a stomach." Wilson just rolled his eyes.

"Well, it's a nice change to see you in the cafeteria, since I didn't see you here last week."

"Wouldn't want Cameron to find me, and try to have me listen to one of her boring lectures."

"You know, you could just do what all the rest of us in this hospital do. It's called work."

"Didn't have a case."

"You could still do paperwork and clinic duty."

"You sound just like Cameron. How much did you talk to her last week anyway?"

"About every day. And that got annoying, thank you very much." House smirked.

"Did she give you a lecture too?"

"No, but I'm swamped with work at the moment, so I don't need her to ask me several times a day if I've seen you, and I don't need her to tell me to call you either. You would actually not just be doing Cameron a favor by doing your job, you know." House replied him in mock compassion.

"I'll make sure to give you a tissue, so that you can wipe your tears away." Wilson just shook his head.

"So why haven't you been harassing Cameron the way you're always harassing Cuddy? I thought for sure you'd be barging into the office on and off with some ridiculous demands."

"How could I when I didn't have a case?" Wilson shrugged.

"Well, you still could've found some reason why you just had to barge into the office."

"Well, I didn't."

"But you usually would if Cuddy was in there, so why didn't you do the same with Cameron?"

"I had better things to do."

"That seems so unlike you."

"What can I say? I'm just full of surprises."

Wilson wondered about what House had said throughout their conversation, and had not paid any attention to what House had put on his tray. He had been more focused on the conversation and on finding the perfect banana, and made other careful selections regarding his food that he'd not looked at House since noticing House behind him when he came to the cafeteria. And knowing that he'd end up buying House's lunch he didn't bother looking over his shoulder to address House.

"I guess, I don't have to ask you whether or not you're paying for your own lunch?"

"Nope." Wilson rolled his eyes as House limped passed him with his tray. Wilson then stuck out some cash for the lady at the cash register.

"That won't cover it, Dr. Wilson." She pointed to the green digits on the cash register indicating the price. Wilson gaped at the amount of money he had to pay. He put the cash back in his valet, and instead got his credit card out.

When he paid for the food, he walked over to the secluded corner where House was sitting. When he reached the table he stood in shock at the amount of food on House's tray. He spotted a plate of fries, a sandwich House was halfway through eating, two bagels with crème cheese, a steak, a pasta dish, 5 chocolate chip cookies, a piece of chocolate cake, and the largest soda the cafeteria had. He stared at the tray for another few moments before shaking his head and sitting down.

When he sat down he stared both in awe and disgust at how House wolfed the food down. He kept doing that for another few seconds before House spoke up.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Wilson nodded.

"I probably should, otherwise I'm afraid you'll be done with your food and start on mine. But at the moment I'm just puzzled." House rolled his eyes.

"Do I even want to know why?" Wilson smiled a little.

"I don't know." House rolled his eyes again.

"That can only mean that I'm definitely not interested in knowing why you're puzzled."

"Probably."

"But somehow I think I'm going to hear it anyway." Wilson nodded.

"Yes." House rolled his eyes again as Wilson put his elbows on the table and leaned in. "Are you depressed?" House gaped with a mouth full of half chewed food, and Wilson put a hand up while closing his eyes. "That's disgusting. Could you please close your mouth?" House closed his mouth and resumed chewing but didn't let that stop him from answering Wilson.

"What makes you say that?" Wilson opened his eyes again and put his hand down.

"Well for starters look at all the food on your tray." He gestured with his hand. House shrugged.

"I'm a growing boy." Wilson rolled his eyes.

"You know I don't buy that for a second." House shrugged again.

"It was worth a shot to see if you would shut up."

"Some depressed people will turn to comfort food, and with the amount of food you have on your tray that could be a sign of depression." House rolled his eyes once again.

"Well, Dr. Freud, did it ever occur to you that I'm just really hungry?" Wilson ran a hand over his jaw thinking. He then smiled and pointed at House with his finger.

"You were hiding from Cameron all last week not even once attempting to pull a prank on her or make her otherwise uncomfortable, annoyed, or pissed off. Well, you did manage to annoy her, but only by hiding from her. And now you have a tray full of food." He let out a laugh and then snapped his fingers, but kept his voice low. "You miss Cuddy." House rolled his eyes at Wilson and gave him an annoyed glare.

"Did you by any chance fry your brain cells this morning when you were blow drying your hair?" Wilson smiled.

"No." He started to grin a little but still kept his voice low. "You miss Cuddy." House glared a bit more.

"Oh that's just absurd." Wilson shook his head and grinned even more.

"No it's not. It's so obvious and it makes perfect sense."

"Nothing you ever say makes sense."

"I know I'm right."

"No, you think you're right, but you're not. See? There's a difference."

"You can deny it all you want, House, but I know I'm right."

"And you base that on the food on my tray and the fact that I didn't pull a single prank on Cameron last week?"

"Yes."

"Did it ever cross your mind that I'm just really hungry now, and that I had better things to do last week other than harassing Cameron? Did you ever think that I was actually telling you the truth when I told you the _exact_ same thing a few minutes ago?" Wilson smirked and shook his head.

"No."

"Are you going to talk about this all throughout lunch?" Wilson nodded.

"Yes."

"In that case I'm not sitting here another minute." House got up, picked up his tray and cane and limped out of the cafeteria.

Wilson watched House leave without saying anything but still kept the smirk on his face. When he couldn't see House anymore, he turned his head and let out a small laugh to himself before starting on his lunch.

**TBC**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

A while later the test result came back that House was right. Foreman and Thirteen came back to the conference room with the test result.

"You were right, House." House rolled his eyes at Foreman.

"After all the years you've worked for me, I thought that would be pretty obvious by now." Everyone rolled their eyes. "Still it's nice to hear. You might just make it back on my Valentine's Day card list after all." Foreman replied him sarcastically.

"I'm so touched." House smirked at him.

"Go shove the test result in Cameron's face and prepare the patient for the procedure." Everyone left the conference room and got started on their different tasks.

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When Foreman got back from showing Cameron the result of the test, Kutner and Thirteen got the patient ready and then started to conduct the test while House and Taub observed from the control room.

Kutner started talking to the patient while she was in the ice bath, and it annoyed House at first. But when the patient didn't have a heart attack after three minutes, House realized from what the patient said about mixing up room numbers that she must have brain damage.

After getting the patient back into her room House and all members of the team gathered in the conference room and talked about House's theory.

After debating for a while Kutner shook his head.

"So just because she screwed up room numbers six years ago, doesn't mean we need to do a brain biopsy. Transposed digits might be a classic marker for number confusion, but that doesn't prove she has a lesion in the left parahippocampal region of her brain. I've mis-dialed a phone number occasionally, so it could be that she just got the numbers wrong."

"She also forgot to use the bathroom this morning when she'd been informed about the test fifteens minutes before you came to get her for it. That shows an inability to predict the future." Kutner shook his head at House.

"That could just mean that she has a small bladder." Thirteen nodded.

"It could, but an inability to predict the future is also located in the left hemisphere of the brain close to the parahippocampal region." House nodded.

"And that means the damage is ongoing." Kutner shook his head.

"These two incidences were six years apart. That's nowhere near compelling evidence. It's human to forget things, which the mixed up numbers and forgetting to go to the bathroom are signs of. The cardiac arrest and platelet dysfunction point in the direction of a pancreatic tumor."

"It's more likely that it's MS. Dozens of information flow through one area to another in the brain just like the internet. When there's a lack it acts as a bad server, and it slows down the flow. If it's in the parahippocampal region it'll spread to the brainstem, which means the lungs will be next. A brain biopsy will reveal the plaques." House was about to walk into his office, and then was set to head to Cameron to get approval, but Kutner stood up trying to make his case.

"A brain biopsy is dangerous and too premature. It's more likely just a pancreatic tumor." House eyed him.

"You're not backing down, are you?" Kutner shook his head.

"No, and if you're going to Cameron to talk her into letting you do a brain biopsy, then I'm going with you to convince her to let us to do an ERCP."

Foreman, Thirteen, and Taub looked at each other and then back at House to see what he'd say.

House eyed Kutner again and when he realized Kutner would follow him to Cameron no matter what he said, he decided he might as well agree to let him come. House nodded once.

"Fine." Kutner nodded once in return and they left for Cuddy's office.

Foreman, Thirteen, and Taub looked at each other again.

"Wow. Rather amazing that House allowed Kutner to follow him." Foreman and Thirteen nodded agreeing with Taub.

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Minutes later House barged into Cuddy's office. Cameron rolled her eyes when the door slammed against the wall knowing that it was House. But instead of getting annoyed with him like she'd planned, she changed her mood to curiosity when she saw that Kutner was with him. She put down the file she was reading.

"Dr. House, Dr. Kutner what can I do for you?"

"The patient needs a brain biopsy. She screwed up room numbers which is a sign of transposed digits and a classic marker for number confusion. That proves she has a lesion in the left parahippocampal region of her brain. She also forgot to use the bathroom this morning when she'd been informed about a test fifteens minutes before we came to get her for it. That shows an inability to predict the future, which is also located in the left hemisphere of the brain close to the parahippocampal region. Therefore she needs a brain biopsy." Cameron looked at Kutner.

"I'm assuming that you don't agree."

"No, I don't. She screwed up the room numbers six years ago, and getting numbers wrong is an honest mistake. And forgetting to go to the bathroom could just mean that she has a small bladder. Two incidences six years apart are not compelling evidence. The cardiac arrest and platelet dysfunction point in the direction of a pancreatic tumor, which is more likely to kill her. We need to do an ERCP." House shook his head.

"She had a heart attack. We can't wait around for her to have another. We don't have time to discuss this, because it'll hit her lungs soon. She needs the biopsy." Both House and Kutner looked at Cameron waiting for an answer. Cameron looked at them calmly and replied the same way.

"Do an MRI." House stared at her in disbelief.

"Did I just hear you right? You actually want me to do another test?" Cameron nodded.

"Yes. From that you should be able to see the MS plaques, and if they exist you can do the biopsy." He narrowed her eyes at her.

"No. I'm not going to wait around to do the biopsy when it's what the patient needs. I know you want to say yes deep down inside because you can't really tell me no despite your best efforts, and you really should say yes, but you're holding back for selfish reasons. You want to impress Cuddy and prove to everybody that you can control me and prove that you can stand up to me. But this isn't about you, it's about the patient. And the patient will die before you get your act together and make a decision. So make a decision. Him or me?" Cameron narrowed her eyes at him and remained calm.

"I stand by my decision. Do the MRI." House shook his head.

"Just another proof that Cuddy made the wrong choice, when she chose you to fill in for her." House limped out of the office without saying another word, and Cameron looked at Kutner.

"Will there be anything else, Dr. Kutner." Kutner shook his head.

"No."

"Good then do the MRI." Kutner nodded and left the office.

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After doing the MRI they all gathered in House's office to go over the results. They showed no plaques on either the right nor the left hemisphere, and there was nothing to see in the magnified parahippocampal region. House agreed that they should cancel the brain biopsy, and he let Kutner do the ERCP.

During the ERCP as Kutner was working the endoscope down the patient's throat, she started to have trouble breathing, and they found out that House was right about the lungs. Kutner wasn't all too thrilled about telling House that, and when he, Foreman, Thirteen, and Taub all returned to the conference room to talk to House, he noticed the slight smirk on House's face.

Foreman looked at House when they'd all taken a seat.

"The patient is still very weak, but she's breathing on her own." House gave a single nod.

"Lung failure. Now that proves that one of us was right." He turned to Kutner and smirked. "Can you remember, who said that?" Kutner just nodded.

"Even though it proves that you were right in that her lungs would fail, you were still wrong because it wasn't MS." House nodded.

"Yeah, I was right about the where, but apparently not about the what." He thought for a second and then leaned forward in his chair resting his elbows on the table. "A picorna virus could cause localized demylination that the MRI wouldn't show. We need to run a nerve conduction study on the surface of her brain and that will tell us where the dead spots are." They all looked at each other, but Taub was the one to speak up.

"Wauw, wauw. You actually want us to cut into her skull?"

"Not quite. I'm more talking about cutting off her skull. We need to expose her brain." Kutner shook his head.

"That's too risky. It could still be a pancreatic tumor. That explains the heart, the blood, and her lungs."

"But the ERCP was negative." Kutner looked at Foreman.

"We just need a more sensitive test. We need an endoscopic ultrasound." House shook his head.

"Oh for god's sake, would you just admit that you're wrong."

"You were proven wrong too, but yet you get to do a second test?"

"I was right about the brain in the first place, which probably means I'm right again, so we don't have time to run your test just to see that you're wrong." Kutner smirked a little.

"And I'm just sure that Cameron is willingly going to agree to let you cut off our patient's skull." He got up and headed for the door. "I'm going to do the endoscopic ultrasound." When he was out the door Taub stood too.

"I'm going with him." House nodded and when Taub had left, Foreman looked at House.

"I guess you'll be going to Cameron to ask for approval." House nodded and got up to leave.

"Of course." When he had left Foreman and Thirteen looked at each other and just shook their heads.

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Minutes later House barged into Cuddy's office, but having gotten off the phone with Kutner a minute ago, she wasn't surprised to see House.

"Hello, Dr. House. Come to ask me for my approval to cut off your patient's skull?" He narrowed his eyes at her as he approached the desk.

"So, Kutner called you."

"Yes." She shook her head. "That kind of treatment is not AMA approved for MS."

"I can see Kutner didn't fill you in on everything. I'm searching for what set off the MS. Equine encephalitis."

"The way to get that is by a mosquito, which is unlikely due to the cold weather we're having, or have you not looked outside?" House started to get slightly annoyed.

"Then she either got bitten six months ago or it's from some other infection. Whatever caused it is running wild in the left side of her brain. Once I've cut off her skull, I'll get you the details." She shook her head.

"That answer is not good enough. Not for the kind of procedure you're asking approval for." He shook his head getting more annoyed.

"The test is the proof. I can't give you anything else."

"Well, you're going to have to try, because I'm not giving you my approval with the current information."

"You're risking the patient's life."

"If you don't have any more proof at the moment, Dr. House, then we're done." Without another word House limped out of the office quickly.

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When House came back to the conference room Foreman and Thirteen were still there. They both looked at him.

"What did Cameron say?"

"That there wasn't proof enough to do the test."

"You can't honestly be surprised she said no." House ignored Thirteen's remark.

"I need you to go to the patient's work place and look for mosquitoes or anything that might've caused equine encephalitis. Check every room she's been in." They both nodded, got up, and gathered their things without another word.

When they were gone House limped into his office and sat down in his armchair. He put his right leg up and then got out his Vicodin. After dry swallowing two pills he started to massage his leg.

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A while later Foreman and Thirteen returned with their findings and gave them to House, who were then off to see Cameron once again.

When House barged into Cuddy's office, Cameron was sitting on the couch with her head over the table and about to take a sip of coffee. But because she got startled, she ended up spilling coffee on her shirt and a little on the table. She looked up at him and glared at him and spoke to him sarcastically.

"Thank you very much for that." House just shrugged as she wiped the coffee off of herself and the table.

"Good thing you weren't sitting at the desk. Cuddy would've been pissed at you if you'd gotten coffee on her desk." Cameron just narrowed her eyes at him when she was done wiping off the coffee.

"I assume you have something for me?" He nodded holding up the clipboard and a small vial.

"Yes, I've got a lab test and three dead mosquitoes." He handed them to Cameron. "Well, I'm off to cut my patient's skull off."

"You're not going anywhere until I read this through carefully." She looked at both items and then gave him a glare. "The student you took the sample from has the common cold, and these aren't mosquitoes, they're just banana flies." House shrugged.

"Same thing."

"No, they're not the same thing. This is not sufficient proof of what I asked for." He started to get angry.

"Kutner didn't find anything when he did the endoscopic ultrasound, which just proves that since it's not her pancreas, it's her brain."

"It doesn't prove that."

"Oh come on, Cameron. You were on my side once. Remember? What I just gave you used to be sufficient evidence. The only test left for me to do is the one test you won't let me do. So if I can't do it, I can't do anything else for the patient." She gave him a glare.

"I'm sorry, Dr. House, but you're just going to have to keep doing more tests that are less harmful, because I'm not letting you cut your patient's skull open with what you've found so far. Bring me sufficient evidence and you can do the procedure." House looked at her in disbelief. But that only lasted two seconds. He snapped the clipboard and vial out of her hand angrily and got out of the office quickly.

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When House got back to the conference room Thirteen was the only one there.

"So what did Cameron say?"

"What do you think she said?"

"I guess it was a no." He replied her sarcastically.

"Oh really? Well enlighten me on how you reached that conclusion. What gave it away? The fact that you didn't get a page telling you to get your ass to the OR?"

"So what are we going to do now that we can't cut her skull open?" He stood staring out into space for a moment and then got an idea. He started to limp towards his office.

"Grab your coat, the patient's file, and the different test results." She looked in his direction a bit oddly, but figured it was best to do as he said.

When she noticed him getting out of the door in his office with his coat on, she got out of the door in the conference room and met up with him in the hall.

"Where are we going? Are we going to look for more sufficient proof?" He nodded as they waited for the elevator.

"Yeah, something like that."

"Are we going to tell the others?"

"Nope." She rolled her eyes when they stepped inside of the elevator.

When they reached the lobby House limped quickly towards the entrance and Thirteen was a little impressed by his speed, but said nothing.

When they got to the parking lot the silence finally got to her.

"Where are we going?" He ignored her question.

"Where's your car, or did you get a ride with lover boy?" She rolled her eyes.

"It's the first one on the left after the handicapped spaces." House was glad she'd gotten a space close by, so that he didn't have to walk that far.

"Great." He walked towards it. She rolled her eyes but followed him. When they reached the car, he looked at her. "Open it so we can get moving."

"Could you at least tell me where we're going? If we're going somewhere to look for sufficient proof, why are we bringing all the test results and the patient's file?"

"We're not going to look for sufficient evidence." She looked at him confused.

"If we're not doing that, where are we going?"

"We're going to Cuddy's to get approval to cut off the patient's skull." She gaped at him for a few seconds but then shook her head.

"We can't do that. Cuddy's on leave and she put Cameron in charge." House snapped.

"And she was wrong in doing both." Thirteen gaped at him again. "The only thing left to do is to cut the patient's skull off. But little Miss I-need-to-prove-myself, is standing in our way, and by doing that she's killing the patient. Cameron might be in charge, but Cuddy's still the Dean." Thirteen shook her head.

"I'm not going. If you want to go, you can go on your own." She was about to turn around to leave, but didn't get the chance as House spoke to her harshly.

"I fired you once, so don't think I won't do it again." She gaped at him for a few seconds but then sighed knowing there was really no point in arguing with House. She nodded.

"Fine. But I'm calling Cuddy to let her know we're coming."

She got out her cell phone, but when she brought it up higher to her face and was getting ready to dial, House swung his cane up from its position on the ground and hit her on the back of her hand, causing the cell phone to fly out of her hand and in his direction. He caught it with ease. She gave him an angry glare, but he just glared back.

"No calling Cuddy."

"We can't just show up at her door without letting her know we're coming. Especially not since she's on leave."

"We can and we will. Now get in the car. We don't have time to make meaningless conversation." She rolled her eyes but did as she was told and soon they were off to see Cuddy.

**TBC**


End file.
